Memory with an Erotic Addition: Reflections on Cinema, Normativity and Identity

In this paper, I follow Bensusan’s lead regarding the need of addition for the constitution of memory and explore in what sense love can in occasions provide the necessary addition while improving, rather than jeopardizing, the normative standing of memory. To illustrate the relationship between memory as a source of knowledge and love, I make use of a variety of examples taken from films by Buñuel, Bergmann and Kore-eda, from literature and history, and from personal experience. Likewise, I rely on ideas from traditions ranging from feminist and antiracist standpoint epistemology to Wittgenstein’s discussion of rule following.